Pool cleaners

ABSTRACT

Wheeled automatic swimming pool cleaners are detailed. These cleaners may include mechanisms for tensioning drive chains associated with one or more of the wheels. They also may drive one or more wheels directly. Water-management systems within the cleaners may locate most or all wearing components so that merely removing a bottom cover causes these components to be accessible for repair or replacement.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/035,882 filed on Mar. 12, 2008, the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to devices for cleaning swimming poolsor other vessels and more particularly, although not necessarilyexclusively, to wheeled, pressure-side automatic pool cleaners.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,665,900 to Wichmann, et al., illustratesan exemplary automatic swimming pool cleaner. The cleaner may include acontoured external housing encasing a hydraulic drive system, whichsystem drives multiple wheels. Also included as part of the cleaner maybe a hydraulic vacuum system for drawing debris-laden fluid (e.g. poolwater) through a bag to filter the debris from the fluid. According tothe Wichmann patent, the cleaner

-   -   has a modular construction with the hydraulic drive and vacuum        system components mounted onto an internal frame . . . for easy        access to the modular components by removal of the external        housing        if repair or replacement of a component is necessary. See        Wichmann, col. 4, 11. 28-32.

Also disclosed in the Wichmann patent are aspects of a drive unit forthe cleaner. Forming parts of the unit are drive and idler sprockets aswell as ladder-type drive chains. The drive sprockets engage the chains“at a common forward-drive rotational speed, for correspondingly drivingthe cleaner wheels to transport the pool cleaner over submerged floorand side wall surfaces of the swimming pool.” See id., col. 11, 11. 8-11(numerals omitted). The contents of the Wichmann patent are incorporatedherein in their entirety by this reference.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides alternatives to the pool cleaner shown inthe Wichmann patent. These cleaners too may have external housings(contoured if desired) encasing hydraulic drive systems for rotating oneor more wheels. They likewise may have hydraulic vacuum systems andutilize bags or other objects as filters.

Preferably, however, cleaners of the present invention includemechanisms for tensioning drive chains. Such mechanisms may include oneor more spring-loaded rollers for biasing the chains at selectedlocations. In at least some embodiments of the invention, further, aturbine or other hydraulic device may drive a wheel directly.

Additionally included in cleaners of the current design arewater-management and drive systems in which most—if not all—wearingparts are accessible at the bottom of the device. As a consequence,removing merely a bottom cover of the housing renders accessible many orall of these wearing parts. (Alternatively, some or all wearing partsmay be positioned so as to be accessible from the top of the devicefollowing removal of a top cover.) Better control of the center ofgravity (CG) of the cleaner also may be achieved by incorporatingweighting into the frame of the cleaner.

Innovative cleaners of the present invention additionally may includemultiple openings at or adjacent the rears of their bodies. Suchmultiple openings allow water flow through the bodies, reducing drag asthe cleaners move forward. The holes further may permit certain-sizeddebris to exit the cleaners rather than potentially being trapped withinthe bodies.

Moreover, cleaners of the present invention may, if desired, includeturbines with multiple side walls. Surrounding both sides of eachturbine blade with walls admits more efficient power transfer from thepressurized water to the blades. Preferably one side wall is moldedintegrally with the blades to form a base assembly, while the other sidewall is not. Instead, the non-integral wall preferably is snap fittedonto the base assembly, concurrently capturing a bearing between thewalls. Nevertheless, persons skilled in the relevant art will recognizethat the side walls and blades may be attached or connected in mannersother than those expressly described and illustrated herein.

It thus is an optional, non-exclusive object of the present invention toprovide devices for cleaning fluid-containing vessels such as, but notlimited to, swimming pools.

It is an additional optional, non-exclusive object of the presentinvention to provide cleaners utilizing wheels for purposes of movementwithin the vessels.

It is another optional, non-exclusive object of the present invention toprovide cleaners supplying tensioning mechanisms for chains employed todrive one or more of the wheels.

It is also an optional, non-exclusive object of the present invention toprovide cleaners utilizing both direct and indirect drives of wheels.

It is, moreover, an optional, non-exclusive object of the presentinvention to provide cleaners in which most, if not all, wearing partsare accessible merely by removing one cover of a housing.

It is a further optional, non-exclusive object of the present inventionto provide cleaners incorporating weighting into their frames for betterCG control.

It is yet another optional, non-exclusive object of the presentinvention to provide cleaners including multiple rear openings to reducedrag when travelling in the water.

It is also an optional, non-exclusive object of the present invention toprovide cleaners with turbines having side walls to both side of theirblades, at least one of which walls may be snap fitted into place.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will beapparent to those skilled in appropriate fields with reference to theremaining text and the drawings of this application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a right side elevational view of an exemplary cleaner of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a left side elevational view of the cleaner of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the cleaner of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view of the cleaner of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the cleaner of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the cleaner of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 7-8 illustrate, among other things, aspects of a drive chainassembly of the cleaner of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a turbine of the cleaner of FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 is an exploded view of the turbine of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Depicted in FIGS. 1-6 is cleaner 10 of the present invention. Cleaner 10may comprise housing 14 and one or more wheels 18. As shown in FIGS.1-6, cleaner 10 preferably (although not necessarily) includes threewheels 18A-C, with two wheels 18A-B positioned at right side 22 ofhousing 14 and one wheel 18C positioned at left side 26 of the housing14.

When in use, cleaner 10 is designed to traverse floors and side walls ofa fluid-containing vessel such as a swimming pool. Debris-containingwater is evacuated from the pool into mouth 30 of housing 14 and thencevia outlet 34 into a bag or other structure. The bag or other structurepreferably is porous and configured such that water may flowtherethrough so as to return to the pool, whereas debris of certain sizeis retained therein. When the bag or other structure is partially orcompletely filled with debris, it may be separated from outlet 34 andemptied outside of the pool.

Both the drive and vacuuming systems of cleaner 10 may be hydraulicallypowered. Preferred versions of cleaner 10 connect to a main filtrationsystem of a swimming pool. In particular, these versions of cleaner 10connect to filtration (or booster) pump outlets via a hose attached tomast 38 of housing 14. Pressurized water exiting the pump travelsthrough the hose into the housing 14 so as to supply power for the driveand vacuuming systems. Thrust jet 42 may be positioned at or near rear46 of housing 14 and oriented to exhaust some of the pressurized waterrearward of the cleaner 10 so as to assist forward movement thereof.Likewise positioned and oriented may be sweep hose fitting 50, to whicha sweep hose may be connected when cleaner 10 is in use. In at leastsome embodiments of cleaner 10, thrust jet 42 may be configured to bereoriented (as by a user) in use to supply any or all of an upward,downward, or lateral vector to the exhausted water flow.

FIGS. 7-8 illustrate aspects of chain drive assembly 54 of cleaner 10.Assembly 54 is used to drive wheels 18A-B concurrently, employinghydraulic power yielded by turbine 56 (see FIGS. 9-10) within housing14. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other sources of powermay be employed in connection with assembly 54, however.

Coupled to the power source are drive sprockets 58A-B, one associatedwith (and connected directly or indirectly to) each of wheels 18A-B.Positioned about and engaging both sprockets 58A-B is continuous chain62. Chain 62 also engages idler sprocket 66 positioned between sprockets58A-B.

Additionally included as part of assembly 54 may be tensioning mechanism68, which includes rollers 70 and 74, connector 78, and (coil or other)spring 82. Although each of rollers 70 and 74 is adapted to rotate aboutits respective axis 86 and 90, rollers 70 and 74 are coupled viaconnector 78 so they move together linearly. Stated differently, at alltimes the distance between axes 86 and 90 should be the same.

Furthermore, roller 74 is connected to an end of spring 82, whoseopposite end is connected to internal frame 94. Spring 82 biases roller74 downward (in the direction of arrow A of FIG. 7). Because of theconnection between rollers 70 and 74, roller 70 is biased downward aswell.

Rollers 70 and 74 may be spool shaped (see FIG. 8) and receive chain 62about their central cores. By threading chain 62 about rollers 70 and 74below their respective axes 86 and 90, both rollers 70 and 74 push thechain 62 downward because of the biasing force of spring 82. Should anyslack occur in chain 62, such slack will result in spring 82 expanding,forcing rollers 70 and 74 downward so as to increase slightly the travelpath of chain 62. This increase in travel path operates to remove theslack from chain 62, hence tensioning it.

Other features of cleaner 10 include weighting incorporated into frame94 and buoyancy means 98 incorporated into cowling 102. Incorporatingweighting into the frame 94 allows better control over the CG of cleaner10. Fixing position of buoyancy means 98 (which may be a float) relativeto cowling 102 allows for balancing cleaner 10 without concern aboutbuoyancy means 98 moving in use.

Depicted in FIG. 6 is bottom cover 106 of housing 14. Cover 106 may beattached either to internal frame 94 or to another portion of housing14. Although FIG. 6 illustrates three screws 110 connecting cover 106 toframe 94, more or fewer screws may be utilized as desired, as mayfasteners other than screws. Merely removing cover 106 (see, e.g., FIG.8) allows ready access to most—if not all—wearing components withinhousing 14 should any need replacement or repair.

Body 14 additionally may incorporate at least one, and preferablymultiple, openings 112 located at or near rear 46. Openings 112 allowwater within body 14 to exit as cleaner 10 moves forward in pool water,thus reducing drag experienced by the cleaner 10 while in transit.Openings 112 also may help prevent debris from being trapped within, andpossibly clogging, body 14, by providing the debris multipleopportunities to exit the body 14.

FIGS. 9-10 illustrate turbine 56 of cleaner 10. As shown especially inFIG. 10, turbine 56 may comprise base assembly 114, bearing 118, andfirst side wall 122. Assembly 114 in turn may comprise second side wall126, boss 130, upstanding wall 134, and multiple curved blades 138extending from the upstanding wall 134. Components of assembly 114preferably are integrally formed (as by molding), although such integralformation is not absolutely necessary.

Boss 130 may be centrally positioned radially relative to second sidewall 126. To form turbine 56, bearing 118 may be placed within boss 130,with first side wall 122 then being snap fitted onto assembly 114. Sofitting first side wall 122 captures bearing 118 between the first andsecond side walls 122 and 126. It also provides walls to both sides ofeach blade 138.

The foregoing is provided for purposes of illustrating, explaining, anddescribing embodiments of the present invention. Modifications andadaptations to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled inthe art and may be made without departing from the scope or spirit ofthe invention. Directional terms such as “right” and “left” (as well as“front,” “rear,” “top,” and “bottom”) are relative and defined forpurposes of this application as though cleaner 10 were upright andoperating in its most frequent direction of travel. These terms are notabsolute, however.

1. An automatic swimming pool cleaner comprising: a. a first wheelhaving a first drive sprocket associated therewith; b. a second wheelhaving a second drive sprocket associated therewith; c. a chain engagingthe first and second drive sprockets; and d. means, comprising coupledfirst and second rollers, for tensioning the chain.
 2. An automaticswimming pool cleaner according to claim 1 further comprising a springto which the second roller is connected.
 3. An automatic swimming poolcleaner according to claim 2 in which the spring biases the secondroller downward when the cleaner is upright.
 4. An automatic swimmingpool cleaner according to claim 3 further comprising an internal frameto which the spring is connected.
 5. An automatic swimming pool cleaneraccording to claim 4 in which (a) the first roller rotates about a firstaxis, (b) the second roller rotates about a second axis, and (c) thefirst and second rollers are coupled so that the linear distance betweenthe first and second axes remains constant.
 6. An automatic swimmingpool cleaner according to claim 5 in which, when the cleaner is upright,the chain contacts (a) the first roller below the first axis and (b) thesecond roller below the second axis.
 7. An automatic swimming poolcleaner according to claim 6 further comprising an idler sprocket whichthe chain engages.
 8. An automatic swimming pool cleaner according toclaim 7 further comprising a turbine for driving at least one of thefirst and second drive sprockets.
 9. An automatic swimming pool cleaneraccording to claim 1 further comprising a body having a rear portiondefining a multiplicity of spaced openings through which at least somewater within the body may exit as the cleaner moves forward.
 10. Anautomatic swimming pool cleaner according to claim 1 further comprisinga turbine for directly or indirectly driving the first and secondwheels, the turbine comprising: a. a first side wall; and b. a baseassembly comprising: i. a second side wall; ii. an upstanding wall; andiii. a plurality of curved blades extending from the upstanding wall.11. An automatic swimming pool cleaner according to claim 1 (a) furthercomprising a housing comprising (i) an internal frame, (ii) a cover, and(iii) at least one fastener removably connecting the cover to theinternal frame and (b) in which removing the cover allows ready accessto the first and second drive sprockets and the first and secondrollers.
 12. An automatic swimming pool cleaner comprising: a. a bodyhaving a rear portion defining a multiplicity of spaced openings throughwhich at least some water within the body may exit as the cleaner movesforward; b. a thrust jet directing water rearward of the cleaner as thecleaner moves forward; and c. at least one wheel connected directly orindirectly to the body.
 13. An automatic swimming pool cleanercomprising: a. a body; b. at least one wheel connected directly orindirectly to the body; and c. a turbine for directly or indirectlydriving the at least one wheel, the turbine comprising: i. a first sidewall; and ii. a base assembly comprising: A. a second side wall; B. anupstanding wall; and C. a plurality of curved blades extending from theupstanding wall.
 14. An automatic swimming pool cleaner according toclaim 13 in which the first side wall is attached to the base assembly.15. An automatic swimming pool cleaner according to claim 14 in whichthe base assembly further comprises a boss centrally positioned radiallyrelative to the second side wall.
 16. An automatic swimming pool cleaneraccording to claim 15 further comprising a bearing placed within theboss.
 17. An automatic swimming pool cleaner comprising: a. at least onewheel; b. a housing comprising: i. an internal frame; ii. a cover; andiii. at least one fastener removably connecting the cover to theinternal frame; and c. a multiplicity of wearing components within thehousing; and in which removing the cover allows ready access to themultiplicity of wearing components.
 18. An automatic swimming poolcleaner according to claim 17 in which the internal frame has a lowerportion, the at least one fastener removably connects the cover to thelower portion of the internal frame, and removing only the cover fromthe lower portion of the frame allows ready access to the multiplicityof wearing components.